Pelicans fall out of sky from Mexico to Ore.

[Exodia]

Here because they mention the potential of a virus.

Pelicans fall out of sky from Mexico to Ore.

Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say.

By Pat Brennan

The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say.

Weak, disoriented birds are huddling in people's yards or being struck by cars. More than 100 have been rescued along the California coast, according to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro.

Hundreds of birds, disoriented or dead, have been observed across the West Coast.

"One pelican actually hit a car in Los Angeles," said Rebecca Dmytryk of Wildrescue, a bird-rescue operation. "One pelican hit a boat in Monterey."

While some of the symptoms resemble those associated with domoic-acid poisoning — an ocean toxin that sometimes affects sea birds and mammals — other symptoms do not. Domoic acid also apparently has not been found in significant amounts offshore, although more tests are needed.

Rescuers are wondering whether the illness is caused by a virus, or even by contaminants washed into the ocean after recent fires across Southern California. Many of the birds also have swollen feet.

"These birds are on the freeway, getting run over," said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the rescue center in San Pedro. "A bunch we've seen have been hit. They've been landing on yards five miles inland. When some of the people have captured them in parking lots, they just sit in the corner. They just go pick them up."

"Maybe the weather has been particularly difficult on them," said Heather Nevill, a veterinarian tracking the problem for the International Bird Rescue Research Center. "Maybe the fish stocks are particularly low. It might be more than one thing, all coming together at once."

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008597545_pelicans07.html

[Auburn Boy]

Red tide..,

Hmmmm..,

[Exodia]

Pelican die-off cause a mystery

Birds struck by combination of factors, rescue group says
By LARRY PARSONS
Herald Staff Writer
Updated: 02/13/2009 01:34:56 AM PST

The reason why hundreds of California brown pelicans were found dead, dazed and dying on the West Coast this winter may never be pinned down, a bird rescue group said Wednesday.

The plight of the ailing pelicans, 40 of which were found in Monterey County, was likely a combination of factors, according to the International Bird Rescue Research Center of Fairfield.

"We think there are a bunch of things that have hit them," said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the rescue center, which took in about 200 sick pelicans discovered in December and January. About 50 are being treated at the center and more than 75 have been returned to the wild.

"We were really hoping to find a smoking gun, but we really haven't found it," he said.

A leading theory is that a warming global climate and abundant food caused about 4,000 pelicans to remain in Oregon and Washington months past when they normally would have migrated south. Then many of the birds got caught in record-freezing December temperatures, stressing their bodies and leaving them without food supplies.

But the delayed migration-inclement weather scenario doesn't explain why many adult birds displayed odd behavior and confusion. One bird was found near the mouth of Carmel Valley sitting in the middle of Rio Road.

"That was something odd that we haven't seen," Holcomb said, discussing the birds' behavior. "An adult pelican just doesn't land on the highway and do things like that."

A few pelicans tested positive for domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by the microalgae of a red tide. But the poison probably didn't play a role in the pelicans' plight. The toxin usually causes seizures in pelicans, but none of the birds showed that symptom.
There is still research to be done on a few of the pelican carcasses, but Holcomb said that likely won't lead to definitive answers.

The continuing mystery about the pelican die-off comes as the state Fish and Game Commission voted this month to take the California brown pelican off the endangered species list.

The pelican population has rebounded since the early 1970s when there were just a few thousand birds, Holcomb said. But it may be too early to declare pelicans out of danger.

"The state says there has been enough to say they are recovered, but we are just a bit cautious," he said.

In recommending the delisting, commission officials said that since the 1969 ban of DDT, the breeding population of brown pelicans in the Channel Islands off Southern California has annually exceeded the 3,000 pairs called for in pelican recovery plans.

In 2006, there were about 8,500 breeding pairs, and despite threats including oil spills, starvation and domoic poisoning, the breeding population has increased substantially.

Nesting sites are protected, and pelicans remain a fully protected species under other fish and game laws, commission officials said.


Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.

http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_11696442?source=rss

[Arianwen]

:( poor birdies

[Sysiphus]

We saw some sick ones way inland. Very strange. They seemed disoriented or something.